Saving Cliff!
by StarringStas
Summary: Instead of killing him, Starscream takes Cliffjumper captive in hope to gain information about the other Autobots. Cliff has a chance to be saved, and his teammates don't miss it. (Kind of spoilers?)


Cliffjumper stiffed his teeth in pain. Damn. This shot just had to hit a crystal right behind him. Energon was really explosive. Although it wasn't too weird for Cliff to be in trouble, it was the first time he was in such a painful one. His entire body stung, both from the injuries in the fight and the explosion. Thank Primus there weren't any hard pieces stuck in his wounds, but it still hurt as hell, mostly now that the Vehicons were dragging him away. The small rocks touching his injuries almost made him scream.

 _-"Stay stoic, Cliff... Hang on..."-_

He thought to himself. He has to hold on. He has to contact Arcee. Damn, what an irony it is that he needs the most help right after saying that he never needs backup.

At least being dragged on the floors of the Decepticon ship was less painful than against the ground and rocks.

 _-Well... Where are you dragging me?-_

He asked the Vehicons. Silence. Another floor up... Another one... Finally, he was brought to the top and almost forced to stand on feet. He lowered his helm and bit his lips. It hurt, everything hurt... He looked up. Damn it. Starscream.

 _-Scream? It's been a while...-_

He felt something coming up his throat and coughed, energon flew out of his mouth. He breathed in again.

 _-So... Where's your master?-_

- _Never mind him!-_

Starscream snapped, coming closer.

 _-I am my own master!-_

He grabbed Cliff by his throat. Luckily, the Autobot managed to gasp just before that.

 _-Now, just tell me where your Autobots friend is, and I'll make your death quick.-_

He growled.

 _-Which... Friend exactly?-_

Cliff wheezed out. Again, he felt the energon coming up his throat as Starscream let go of him. Finally, he fell from his feet on his knees and tried to lean on his hands, coughing. His knees were totally destroyed as well and he shut his optics in pain.

 _-I see you mean to play games with me. You'd rather tell me: where is Prime's team?-_

 _-I have... No actual clue... What in the Allspark are you talking about... Ugh!-_

More energon came out of Cliffjumper's mouth. He put one hand on his chest. He could literally feel the energon flowing through his inner injuries. It hurt so much that he almost fell completely. He lifted his helm again slowly. Starscream appeared furious. He clenched his fists before suddenly running his claw over Cliff's shoulder.

 _-A-AGH!-_

Not able to keep his arms stoic any longer, Cliff dropped from his knees to the floor like a carpet, breathing quickly.

 _-I have... Nothing... To... Tell... You... Scream...-_

Cliff muttered right before passing out. Primus, everything hurt so much...

LATER

Cliffjumper shot his optics open to find himself hanging from the ceilings. Now, in addition to everything, his helm ached. Cliff shrunk painfully as he coughed up a huge amount of energon, his midsection and chest convulsing somewhere deep inside. He felt horrible, even worse than before, tired and sick. How long was he unconscious? How much has his condition worsened? It didn't matter, he just knew that it hurt as hell.

Suddenly the door to the cell opened. It was a small squad of Vehicons.

 _-Rise and shine, Autobot!-_

They detached him from the ceiling. He hit the floor with feet, then knees before the Cons lifted him up forcedly. His legs felt paralyzed.

 _-And where... Am I visiting... Now?-_

Cliffjumper asked, trying to smirk. His voice got so quiet and weak that he barely heard himself, surely the Vehicons though that he just groaned or cursed, so he didn't get an answer for the next five minutes. Being dragged against the floor now was as painful as being dragged against rocks before, mostly when his knees were touching the ground. Cliff looked down to see that his knees were leaking energon. If he's been losing energon all this time, no wonder that he felt so weak now.

In five minutes, the Vehicons brought him into an Energon mine. Starscream was there, again.

MEANWHILE, AT AUTOBOT BASE OMEGA 1

A screen beeped as an Autobot signal appeared.

 _-Cliffjumper's signal... Popped back online-_

BACK

 _-W-well... What do you... Want... Now?-_

Cliff mumbled as loud as he only could and lifted his helm. He sincerely regretted it as he saw, standing beside Starscream, the Lord of the Decepticons in flesh. Megatron. His spark dropped as Megatron approached him. Cliffjumper noted that the Decepticon Lord had a purple crystal in his hand. For some reason, the closer Megatron got this crystal to him, the more nauseous Cliff felt, and when Megatron was standing right in front of him, he coughed up even more energon than before. Gasping loudly, Cliff looked up again, unable to say a word.

Megatron laughed loudly at the poor Cliffjumper's broken look and scared face.

 _-Autobots are proud birds, won't fly without a kick. I suggest you are ready to tell me where Optimus Prime is?-_

He said with a smirk.

 _-I-I...-_

Cliff felt the words stop in his throat as more energon filled his mouth and he coughed it out. By this time he realized that he was no longer coughing but throwing up energon. His sight was becoming more and more blurry and he closed his optics shut.

 _-Dark energon is affecting him.-_

He heard Megatron saying. Dark energon?! What?! Where did he get it?! Wait, it exists?!

 _-He definitely is in no condition to speak, my Lord... I think you can test it on him.-_

Starscream said. Cliffjumper almost passed out from fear. Test the Dark Energon on him?! but... The legend said was used to bring dead back to life... No, no goddamn way! He didn't want to die! No matter how much everything hurt and how horrible he felt, he didn't want to die!

 _-Wait, Starscream. We always have the time to pull his spark out, but not always we have the time to ask where Prime is.-_

- _Are you saying... We have to connect him to Cortical Psychic Patch, my Lord?-_

Cortical Psychic Patch? Cliff had some very bad memories about it. It wasn't in his head though, but still... It wasn't a something he wanted to have contact with. Mostly now. He heard that nobody ever felt well after that, and in his current condition, he was only missing this damned patch to make it even worse.

 _-No, Starscream. He won't survive it now. But the other Autobots will certainly come to save him at the moment they know he's here. But probably, they already know. He is a good bait as long as his spark beats. For now, keep him here.-_

The Vehicons let go of Cliff and he fell to the ground. A yelp came out of his mouth as he hit the floor with his knees. Luckily his hands still functioned enough to hold him from ramming his forehead into the floor. The floor was all covered in his energon. Did he really lose so much? It appeared he lost more than 3/4 of his energon.

Unluckily, or maybe luckily, Megatron was right: soon, the Autobot groundbridge opened on the end of the mine. From where he was lying, Cliff had no problem seeing it. No, they'll get killed... He must try to contact them... He's no longer on Decepticon's ship, he can use comm-link, right? Oh Primus, please let it work... He raised his trembling hand up to his comm-link. As he touched it, a sharp pain struck his helm. No, no, he has to contact them... Yes! It worked. Through all the pain, he reached Arcee.

 _-Ey... Ce-Cee? Can... You... Hear..?-_

Cliff whispered.

 _-CLIFF?-_

He heard through his comm-link. He groaned as the pain in his helm struck again.

 _-Cliff, where are you? Are you all right?-_

 _-N-not exactly... Cee... You'll... Have... To carry me home...-_

He whispered, finally forcing a smirk.

 _-We are coming, Cliff!-_

The comm-link shut, and so the pain ceased. The Vehicons all around began shooting at the direction of the Autobots. However, no matter that there was a fight, no matter what, Cliff felt relieved. They are coming for him, everything will be fine soon, he will be home. Now, no longer trying to force his mechanism to function, he passed out, no longer caring what was happening around him.

NOT TOO MUCH LATER BUT STILL LATER **(Sorry people I had to add a miniature joke)**

 _-Cliff? Can you hear me?-_

Cliffjumper heard Arcee's voice above him. Slowly, he opened his optics wearily. Indeed, Arcee was sitting near him. Lights were above him, everything around was so familiar... Base! He was at home... And Arcee was beside him. Moving his helm around slightly, he saw all the cables he was connected to. All this construction made him feel like a fly in a cobweb, but... He was happy to be in this cobweb. The pain wasn't as bad as it was when he last was awake, the feeling of sickness was almost over... And he wasn't alone anymore.

 _-Hear you great, Cee...-_

He turned his helm to look around. The entire team was around. Prime was talking to Ratchet while Bulkhead was staring at something with "help me" look. Squinting, Cliffjumper noted a human female, sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder and talking without pauses. Didn't human's need to breathe? Looking away, Cliffjumper caught the sight of Bumblebee talking to a small human boy who seemed to understand him. Looking down, Cliff saw another human male, looking at him thoughtfully and throwing questions to Arcee. Cliffjumper chuckled barely audibly. Yeah, he sure missed a lot in this short time of being captured. No big deal, he will catch up with the news at the moment he has enough strength to ask all the questions he had and to listen to the answers without passing out. At least he was home right now, with clearly some interesting story of what he missed. Grinning weakly, he faded into a light recharge.

 **A/N Sooo my buds I wrote the sad story "the last thought" and thought: wait a moment, why not allow it to have a happy ending sequel? And literally imagine my brain smirking. Anyways, if you read it and enjoyed it, then tell me if I shall add another chapter or two of Cliffjumper's recovery and random stuff, or shall I just leave this an one-shot. Thanks to everybody who read it!**


End file.
